machfront wrote: I hope I'm not cluttering otherwise useful discussion, but how in the world did I miss this 'til now?The rules are some inspiring, yeoman work.

If you've the time, Simon (and I know you're a busy fellow of late, what with Delving Deeper hanging on your sword belt), I wouldn't mind reading what, if anything, you've learned implementing these rules as it pertains to Middle-Earth gaming/atmosphere. What you've changed. What you'd do differently. What you may shoot in the head. What may have shot you in the foot. Etc. and blah, blah, blah. [img]images/smiley/smiley.png[/img]

waysoftheearth wrote: Hey Machfront, glad you made the find [img]images/smiley/smiley.png[/img]

Deep questions indeed. Well, without an undue degree of navel gazing, I would say simply that I love JRRT's works, and was inspired to "do something" by the discussion of a possible Middle Earth OD&D supplement on these boards, and a recent re-reading of the tale of Hurin.

I had fun writing up these rules. They were a natural evolution of the house rules I'd been playing in my Hinterlands game (also on these boards) for 18 months or so at the time.

A couple of things that I'm particularly happy with are;

1) XP charts based on race rather than class (non-humans have some of the sneak's abilities, and this is reflected in the additional XP required by each race),2) The "dd" (damage dice) system works beautifully for PCs (and man-sized enemy). It is gives damage rolls with occasional "critical damage" built right in,3) Use of basic supplies for "refreshment" (aka non-magical healing),

Some things that didn't quite work out as I expected are;

1) Ability requirements for Elves weren't steep enough, so we had more Elves and Half-elves than I planned,2) The system of multiple attacks per round is a bit too hard. Next time I would simplify it to +1 attack per round at 4 HD, 8 HD, 12 HD, etc.3) I suspect that the "dd" (damage dice) system doesn't work as well for larger than man-sized enemy. This is because it doesn't scale up proportionally; going from 1dd to 3dd is a much bigger increase than going from 3dd to 5dd.

I haven't really evaluated granting XP for exploration yet. I like the idea, but haven't had the opportunity to use it much in practice.

That's all I can think of right now... hope that's helpful [img]images/smiley/smiley.png[/img]